With Ajax drawing at AZ earlier yesterdayl, injury-ravaged PSV had a chance to cut the Amsterdam side's lead at the top to nine points.

But the Eindhoven side ended the afternoon with defender Kevin Hofland and manager Guus Hiddink both sent off and the Uefa Cup - in which they will meet Newcastle in the quarter-finals - now offers their only real chance of silverware.

All the action was in the second half. The opening period saw few scoring chances - Willem II's Belgian goalkeeper Geert de Vlieger equal to a Kasper B?gelund strike, while Jos van Nieuwstadt's volley hit the bar at the other end after Tom Caluwe's free-kick.

But the mid-table home side eventually took the lead 11 minutes into the second half.

Romano Denneboom's intricate through-ball found the lively Caluwe in space inside the box and the Belgian midfielder made no mistake to give his side the lead.